Strings shrugged. ‘Who can say? There are other things going on here in Raraku, things we know nothing about. The world didn’t sit still during the months we spent marching here.’

‘It was there to keep the Claw out,’ Gesler pronounced. ‘Both Sha’ik and her goddess want this battle. They want it clean. Soldier against soldier, mage against mage, commander against commander.’

‘Too bad for them,’ Strings muttered.

‘So you’ve been hinting at. Out with it, Fid.’

‘Just a hunch, Gesler. I get those sometimes. They’ve been infiltrated. That’s what I saw from Bottle’s divination. The night before the battle, that oasis will get hairy. Wish I could be there to see it. Damn, wish I could be there to help.’

‘We’ll have our turn being busy, I think,’ Gesler muttered.

The last sergeant who had accompanied them sighed, then said in a rasp, ‘Moak thinks we won’t be busy. Unless the new captain does something stupid. The Adjunct’s going to do something unexpected. We may not get a fight at all.’

Strings coughed. ‘Where does Moak get all this, Tugg?’

‘Squatting over the latrine, is my guess,’ Borduke grunted, then spat.

The heavy infantry sergeant shrugged. ‘Moak knows things, that’s all.’

‘And how many times does he get it wrong?’ Gesler asked, clearing his throat.

‘Hard to say. He says so many things I can’t remember them all. He’s been right plenty of times, I think. I’m sure of it, in fact. Almost sure.’ Tugg faced Strings. ‘He says you were in Onearm’s Host. And the Empress wants your head on a spike, because you’ve been outlawed.’ The man then turned to Gesler. ‘And he says you and your corporal, Stormy, are Old Guard. Underage marines serving Dassem Ultor, or maybe Cartheron Crust or his brother Urko. That you were the ones who brought that old Quon dromon into Aren Harbour with all the wounded from the Chain of Dogs. And you, Borduke, you once threw a noble-born officer off a cliff, near Karashimesh, only they couldn’t prove it, of course.’

The three other men stared at Tugg, saying nothing.

Tugg rubbed his neck. ‘Well, that’s what he says, anyway.’

‘Amazing how wrong he got it all,’ Gesler said drily.

‘And I take it he’s been spreading these tales around?’ Strings asked.

‘Oh no. Just me and Sobelone. He told us to keep our mouths shut.’ Tugg blinked, then added, ‘But not with you, obviously, since you already know. I was just making conversation. Just being friendly. Amazing how that Whirlwind Wall just collapsed like that, isn’t it?’

Horns sounded in the distance.

‘Time to march,’ Gesler muttered, ‘praise Hood and all...’

Keneb rode up alongside Gamet. Their legion had been positioned as rearguard for this day of travel and the dust was thick in the hot air.

‘I’m starting to doubt the Whirlwind Wall ever vanished,’ Keneb said.